ICT: Action 366 new apprenticeships

Hans Werner, Head of Human Resources at Swisscom, says that the shortage of skilled workers in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector can only be solved in the long term with additional commitment to the training of IT apprentices. In the past eight years, 37% new apprenticeships have been created in the fields of IT and mediamatics. No other occupational field has such a high growth rate in apprenticeships as ICT. The apprenticeship as an IT specialist is currently the sixth most frequently chosen vocational training. Almost 9,000 young people are currently undergoing ICT apprenticeships in Switzerland.

Sought after professionals

Digitization is affecting all areas of work and life. The need for ICT specialists is growing rapidly. In the last two years alone, the number of people employed in information and communications technology has increased by almost 10,000 to 205,000. Despite an above-average increase in the number of apprenticeships, there is still not enough young talent.

"Unfortunately, too many decision makers have not yet understood that there are only enough computer scientists available if there are enough apprenticeships," says Jörg Aebischer, managing director of ICT Vocational Training Switzerland. Of around 4,500 training degrees per year, around 2,500 come from apprenticeships and 1,000 each from higher vocational education (federal certificates and diplomas) and universities of applied sciences. According to ICT-Berufsbildung Schweiz, the universities and technical colleges (ETH) only produce around 300 IT master's degrees each year.

With the campaign #366ICTlehrstellen, ICT-Berufsbildung Schweiz is focusing on the critical success factor of IT apprenticeships. Companies can tweet with the hashtag #366ICTlehrstellen to show their commitment to promoting apprenticeships and thus benefit from the marketing efforts of the national association, as it writes.